Exposed
by PiratePrincessXx
Summary: Sasuke may have escaped between Naruto and Sakura's fingers many times. But in this night, He wasn't getting away and Sakura was going to make sure of it. Game over, Sasuke. No more Hiding. SasuXSaku
1. Chapter 1

The years passed slowly.  
What was only 10 years, felt like 100 to the now 25 year old Sakura.

But those years of pain and searching were fading out before her very eyes as she stared at a ruined building.  
A building that was now going to be a turning point in her life. This building was the rumored hide-out of the one and only Sasuke Uchiha.

"Can't hide no more."  
Sakura murmured, slipping a ghostly white ANBU mask over her smug smirk.  
She quickly gestured to her fellow ANBU teammates to spread out and cover all the other possible exits of the building. He wasn't slipping past them again.

One of the ANBU lingered behind and waited for the others to get into position. The muscular ninja leaned near Sakura, his yellow hair sticking out behind the white dog mask he wore.  
"You ready for this, Sakura-chan?"  
he asked sticking out a large, rough hand.

She glanced back and grabbed his hand, giving it a firm shake.  
"I've been ready. Let's do this"

Wood splinters flew, mingling with the cloud of dust that formed as Naruto swiftly kicked in the door. ANBU shot out all before them and quickly swept through the rooms. Naruto and Sakura lingered in the doorway as the shouts of their comrades echoed around them. There was no sigh of Sasuke.

"If you were Sasuke, where would you hide?"  
Sakura asked hushedly as her eyes darted around, watching every shadow.

Naruto's voice was grave as he faced forward.  
"I wouldn't"

A shattering blow shook the building and screams traveled with it.  
Rushing down the main hallway, Sakura and Naruto stopped short at the sight of the fallen fighters. ANBU masks and bloody bodies spayed out before them.

At least six bodies, She had counted.

Clenching her fists, Sakura called forward a few ANBU, ordering them to get the bodies and look for survivors. She was on a mission and it was no time to slow down. She pressed on, maneuvering through the bodies, trying not to look.  
This was their last chance.  
Their final shot at getting him back.

Naruto trailed behind, stratagizing with the other ninjas when a call outside signaled that he had gotten onto the grounds.  
Sakura cursed and looked for the quickest way out but all she could see was the windows. With a dangerous smirk, she braced herself, positioning her shoulder out, and ran at the window.

"Watch out, below!"  
She crashed down with a cascade of broken glass and immediately jumped to her feet.  
Naruto landed right after her, already on his feet and running. Sasuke could be seen up ahead, tossing aside another body as if it was a dirty rag.  
He was getting away.  
"Naruto! I'll take right, you left. Got it?"

Naruto signaled a thumbs up and took to the right, disappearing into the thick forest.  
Sakura took to the right, jumping from the tree branches. It felt like miles that they ran, but he was too close now to give up. Sasuke was right there.  
Right--  
He vanished!

Sakura skidded to a halt and stared around.  
The sound of Naruto and the other ANBU running was the only sound that could be heard.  
They must not have had a sight on him like she did. Sakura kept her eyes alert as she took in staggering breaths in.  
Where'd he go?  
He couldn't have gotten far.

Punching the nearest tree, and cursing under her breath, Sakura nearly gave up when a kunai flew out, nicking her left cheek. She immediately took any form of cover she could find, her back to a worn old tree, and pulled out her own weapons trying to formulate a plan. But she wasn't given the chance to think. The tree she had had her back to shattered and Sakura leaped, looking back. Her eyes wide with shock as the attack reminded her of her own power. Looking back at the tree, no one was there. It looked as if it had shattered on its own accorded but she had known better. She tried to move to a safer place but failed. Before she could get anywhere, a large, strong hand yanked her back, throwing her into a tree. Dust flew and she could feel the indent her body had left into the tree. She struggled to get up only to be pushed down by the pair of powerful hands.

The ghostly face that haunted her memories for so many years now stared back at her with hollow eyes.  
No sign of emotion littered his still handsome face.  
"You are a fool. You know this, don't you, Sakura?"

Sakura's bitter chuckle broke through the darkened forest and Sasuke knitted his face in confusion.  
One of his hands reached out and ripped the mask from her face, casking it aside as it hit the ground with an empty clunk. It was then that his eyes met hers. But they had not been what he had expected. He expected to see fear in her eyes. Tears even. But there was nothing of the sorts. Instead, her eyes glowed with confidence as she kept a firm smirk on her face which only made his confusion grow. She leaned her head as close to him as she could and whispered to him.  
"Do you really think I'm that big of a fool... Sasuke-kun?"

Her fingers twitched and Sasuke spun away to dodge the ninja stars that flew in his direction.  
At a safe distant, he turned back,  
"A trap..."

Sakura pulled herself to her feet and held up her hand to him.  
A pair of wires shown in the moonlight. It was cheap trap but it did the trick. Now she had to come up with another plan, and quick. She had to stall for time.

Acting instinctively, She tilted her head and smiled at him. She had to talk for time.  
"You know why we're here."

He scoffed under his breath and steadily walked to the right, having Sakura respond by walking the other way.  
"Yeah, I know. But how about you refresh my memory... For old times sake."

Sakura struggled under his gaze which made her think about a lion preying on his next meal.

"We're-- _I'm_ taking you back. To the village."  
She corrected and never broke his stare.  
If anything else, she wasn't backing down on that promise.

He laughed in her face, taking another step to the side. Sakura quickly moved to match him.  
"You honestly think you alone could take me back? That's funny but you're still the same old Sakura. And I've gotten stronger. There is no way you could accomplish something like that."

At this remark, Sakura's slightly uncertain smirk grew smug again. She took her own step forward, this time, causing Sasuke step back.  
"I may not be as strong as you but I have gotten stronger and I'm not the same old Sakura anymore."  
She tilted her head up and looked at him from the corner of her dangerous green eyes.

"Hey, Sasuke,"  
He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously but she didn't wait for an answer.  
"How fast are you?"

She blurred and vanished with great speed, catching Sasuke off guard.  
They both shot around throughout the forest. A game of Cat and Mouse. And Sasuke stopped first, breathing heavily.  
This was getting old and had to be ended quickly. But before he could act quick enough, a knife flashed infront of him, held out by the gloved hand that he instantly reconized. He could feel Sakura's body pressed up behind him. Her voice in his ears.  
"I don't want to use this on you, You know that don't you?"

His eyes stared down at the knife, seeing Sakura's eyes reflected in it. Hers, looking back at him, the confidence replaced with what looked like to him as sadness. Confused by this sudden chance in moods, Sasuke gave a slight nod and tried to take advantage of it.  
"That always was your problem."

He turned too quickly for Sakura to catch. Now facing Sakura directly, he had his own knife against her own throat.  
They froze and Sasuke locked eyes with Sakura.  
"You could never kill, Sakura. You never had the heart, the strength you needed to harm someone."

Sakura smiled a hollow, humorless smile.  
"I have killed. I've killed people for the sake of finding you, Sasuke."

He flinched and grimaced at this remark and her face went blank as she pressed on.  
"I've done a lot to find you and bring you back. Both Naruto and me have made many sacrifices for this day alone. Thats why-"

She leaned in close to him and brushed her lips against his cheek delicately as she whispered.  
"-I'm sorry."

She disappeared and got away, causing Sasuke to curse though he was flustered.  
Glancing around for any sign of her, Sakura appeared behind him again.  
This time, there was no knife and she showed no sigh of using one. He didnt turn around for he was so caught up in the familiarity of this scene. Except their roles were switched.  
Sakura was in control.

"You remember."  
It wasn't a question since she knew where his thoughts had been. He didn't dare move as she stepped forward. Sasuke could feel her hand move towards him as she whispered to him.

"Your Welcome."  
The darkness slipped over his eyes as he felt himself falling to the ground only to be caught in Sakura's arms. Naruto's voice echoed in the distance.

_'Your Welcome'_


	2. Chapter 2

The events from last night felt surreal.  
Fake.  
Her hands were still shaking as they waited for Sasuke to wake up. Sakura, herself, had strapped Sasuke into the hospital bed since they all knew he was not going to lay down and accept that he was back in the village. He was going to put up a fight now all they had to do was find out when.

Naruto came over to Sakura's side and rested a hand on her shoulder.  
"How are you feeling, Sakura-chan? You haven't slept in a while."

She smiled up at him warmly.  
"No. I'm fine. Thank you."

He wasn't convinced but nodded at her anyways.  
"Okay. Well, if you need anyth--"  
The sound of a struggle interrupted him.

Metal clattering to the floor echoed down the halls as medical nins ran past, turning into Sasuke's room. Sakura shot a look at Naruto and ran to the room to see what was causing all the commotion.

Inside was a disaster.  
Medical equipment was thrown around the room.  
The window was smashed open by a chair that laid out in front of it.  
Several medical nin squeezed into the small room and struggled to keep down the violent ninja who had broken through almost all the straps that held him down to bed.

Breaking through the crowd, Naruto came up and threw a rough fist at Sasuke.  
The force of the hit pushed Sasuke to the floor, breaking the last of the straps that held him.  
Moving quickly, Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the collar and threw him into the wall and held him there.  
"Hey! Cool it!"

Sasuke glared at him coldly, not speaking.  
Sakura walked to Naruto and pulled him back slightly. She was calm but careful.  
"Let go..."

Naruto's grip slowly slipped away until his hand finally fell to his side.  
Sasuke stood up right but made no movement. His eyes were on Sakura. Her control and power captivated him.  
How was she able to have such strength and now be able to control Naruto? How much has he missed?

Sakura looked on at him coolly as if she knew his thoughts and he looked away.  
He was going to have to watch out for her.

After a moment of tense silence, Sakura turned to the window, stood the chair up right, and sat down with her eyes on Sasuke.  
"You know you won't be able to leave the village."

He narrowed his eyes but kept his head turned away.  
"I'll find a way."

"No, you won't. Everyone knows of your return and there are ANBU stationed around the whole village. There is no way you'd be able to escape without someone seeing. You will be captured and brought back."  
She stretched her arms and sighed.

"So, you're stuck here again. You will be judged before the Hokage and after a while of training and such, you will be accepted back to the village as one of our own again and be able to work missions"

Sasuke growled and finally turning to her.  
"I won't do any of that! I will leave here and never return!"

"No you won't."  
She stated it so bluntly that Sasuke was enraged and ran up to her before Naruto could grab him.  
His face was just inches from hers.

"You can't stop me. No one will stop me from getting what I want."

Even though he was right there, able to strike her down at any moment, Sakura was still showed no fear of him.  
"What is it that you want then? To get your revenge?"

Sasuke pulled back slightly.  
"Yes. To kill my brother... and you won't stop me"

Sakura nodded her head slowly as if she was considering something when a tricky smile played on her face.  
She looked up at him with mischievous eyes,  
"You really think you're strong enough to kill Itachi?"

Sasuke was on her in seconds, pushing her off the chair and pinning her to ground.  
Naruto yelped but made no move toward them.

Sakura was still, staring up at him with the smile still on her face.

Sasuke glared at her in anger and confusion. This was definitely not the same Sakura he left.

She tilted her head, an apparent trademark to her now.  
"I have an offer for you."

"You have nothing I want."  
He growled in response, pulling himself up and started to the door.

Naruto blocked it as Sakura sat up on the floor.

"We know where Itachi is."

Sasuke stopped and looked down at her, waiting.  
"We've been trailing him for a while. You promise to return the village indefinately and we'll tell you where."

He clenched his teeth together and stared out in thought.  
After a moment, he shook his head.  
"No. I want to know where he is and go kill him. Now."

Sakura stood and brushed herself off as she walked back up to him.  
"Under two conditions: You make the promise. And Naruto and I come with you."

"No."  
He muttered.  
"I don't want your guys help. I can kill him myself."

"We won't jump in. Just tag along, leading you to him."

"I said No."  
He started to the door again.

"Fine, one of us. Someone has to go with you, Sasuke. How will we know if you'll really return if we don't?"

He turned and looked at her.  
Lost in thought, Sasuke stood there, quietly thinking everything over.  
After a moment of silence, he finally agreed.  
"Just one of you."

Sakura smiled, and for a split second, it reminded him of the old her.  
She nodded happily.  
"Good. We'll set out tomorrow morning."

She strolled past him, patting his shoulder as she went.  
"Hope you're not a deep sleeper. You'll be up early."

He blinked.  
"You're coming?!"

"Well, duh. If Naruto went, you two would instantly start fighting."  
She pointed out.  
Naruto scoffed and they all knew he agreed.

Sakura waved goodbye to Sasuke.  
"See ya later"

Her and Naruto disappeared behind the door and Sasuke stared around room.  
When he was pretty sure they were gone, he made a move to the broken window. He glanced around the village.  
He could escape.  
Leave easily right at this moment.

But he wanted Itachi.

Sasuke slowly reached his hand out onto the broken glass, cutting his finger stared down and the red dot.

Damn the girl.  
She really did capture him...

In more than one way.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Past Chapters were updated and fixed. I apologize for such terrible drafts but as I explained in the past, I used yahoo mail to type my stories (I didn't have my Mircosoft Word then). Now I do, so I fixed them. =)  
On ward to the story. I own nothing..**

Sitting on the roof outside the Tsunade's office, Sakura quietly turned a kunai in her hand as she studied the hospital just a few blocks away.

"I'll pay for the window… and whatever other damages he caused."

Tsunade walked to the window beside Sakura and leaned out.

"That's not necessary. It'll be a part of his reform program. We'll have him replace them by hand."

"He'd like that."

Sakura responded sarcastically with a smile, putting her weapon away.

"I don't you should take him to Itachi so soon."

Tsunade commented, worry etched in her voice. She didn't even like the idea of having Sasuke back… although she knew he had to return or he'd be a bigger problem. But as Tsunade looked over at her, she could see not all her concern was with Sasuke. It was with her and she could sense the infamous question about to rise.

"Sakura…"

"Don't even go there, please."

She replied firmly.

"I know you all are worried about me being around Sasuke. I'm better, I promise. He doesn't have that same hold on me as he did in the past. I live for myself now, okay?"

Tsunade gave a shrug to drop the subject but gave her one lasting look and comment to go with it.

"Love doesn't vanish so easy, Sakura."

"You would know…"

Tsunade and Jiraiya was an item now, supposedly.

She wouldn't tell anyone straight up, except for Shizune… but there was a reason for that. Whenever Sakura cornered her for info on the two, She'd completely shut down, not revealing a single thing.

Although, a very sly Sakura got to her once and got her to spill that they have vanished to go a couple of dates recently and he bought her a shiny little gift in the form of a ring.

Sakura eyed it now from the corner of her eye as she wore it on her right hand, middle finger. A pretty sapphire that nearly matched her other necklace she had passed to Naruto.

Nice work, Jiraiya.

Tsunade, not knowing she was being watched made a quick glance at her hand and a short smile before straightening herself out and looked at Sakura.

"I don't know what you are talking about but do as you wish."

"I'll be fine, Tsunade-Sama. I promise you."

"I realize you make a lot of promises. One day you will break one."

"Well, that day, I suggest you run because I'll blame you for saying it."

"Like you could catch me"

She joked and turned to sit at desk as Naruto strolled in through the open door.

Sakura swung her feet into the room from outside and smiled.

"Hey, Naruto-kun. Anything new?"

He smiled back and sat at the chair in front of Tsunade's desk, facing both women.

"Not really. Sasuke finally settled down. He still fought with some of the male nurses. I took care of that."

He grinned menacingly as Sakura gasped, looking for something to throw.

"Naruto, you can't keep beating up the patients. That makes them stay there longer."

Tsunade snapped at him, throwing her feet on her desk.

"Yea, Naruto. He needs to be ready tomorrow, not beaten to a bloody pulp!"

"I still don't think you should go it alone. He's still dangerous and I don't trust him being alone with you."

He replied and Tsunade nodded her head in agreement.

"Why not?"

Sakura glared at him now.

"Because I'm a girl? Because I'm weak? What?"

He winced.

"You're certainly touchy lately."

He commented and became serious again.

"It's none of that. It's just he's… Sasuke. I know! I know! You're over him… but, there's only so much you can forget. For a minute in there, I actually felt bad after the fifth punch or so."

Sakura glared at him and he gave her an impish grin.

"I'm just saying that he can't be trusted, okay? We don't know him anymore."

"And he doesn't know us."

She growled, standing up as she headed to the office door, grabbing the handle.

"He's not the only one to change, you know. We all did and I have no feelings for who he has become and it won't cloud my judgment."

With that, she walked out, slamming the door behind her.

In the office Naruto sighed, throwing his head back over the chair, closing his eyes as Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose gently.

"She has your attitude."

A voice commented from the window making both ninjas jump.

Jiraiya smiled at their now anger faces.

"What?"

---

The next morning, at the very crack of dawn, Sakura walked down the nearly deserted street to the hospital carrying a large pack on her back filled with weapons, food, medical supplies and what else needed for the trip before her.

The hospital itself even looked abandoned as only a few nurses buzzed around from the midnight shift. The hours sucked away from them visibly and Sakura gave them an encouraging smile as she slipped by to a near by room occupied by a very important ninja.

As she entered the room, her eyes feel onto an empty bed. She tensed as a little flash of panic raced into her heart. Getting ready to leave, Sakura turned and nearly ran into the vanishing act himself who gave her a confused like, knitting his eyebrows over those dangerous eyes of his.

"You okay?"

Sakura froze for a second before quickly composing herself.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. I thought you left for a second there."

"I wish. I went to ask for a pack and some supplies from the nurses' station."

He replied dully and walked to his bed but stopped half a step from it and looked back with a curious look on his face.

"Were you worried?"

He asked, slightly amused but a slip of a different emotion as well. It was the first time he noticed some vulnerability in her eyes but her eyes returned to a steely gaze and he turned back away.

"No, I wasn't I just didn't feel like having to chase you down… again."

He rolled his eyes and threw his pack over his shoulders, looking back at her.

"So, are we going now?"

"That's why I'm here. Let's go. I got to say bye to Tsunade and Naruto first though."

"Should I wait?"

"You're coming with me."

She turned, exiting the room, leaving Sasuke to trail after her moodily.

As they entered the office, Tsunade and Naruto said down with Shizune and Kakashi as they joked over something that both of them had missed.

The room silenced as they approached deeper inside. Sakura took an extra step in front of Sasuke and presented a smile to them all.

"We're going now. I'll keep in touch, okay?"

"You sure about this?"

Naruto asked once more, giving Sasuke the death stare that he gave in return.

Sakura moved between them and rested her hand on Naruto's cheek.

"Naruto, have faith in me, please."

She smiled warmly, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

It was only Tsunade's hawk-like eyes that caught Sasuke's quick glare to the floor. He met eyes with her briefly before returning to a bitter glare while Sakura moved to give Kakashi a hug then one to Tsunade.

As she moved to her side of the desk and leaned down, Tsunade stealthily grabbed her arm, holding her still as she whispered low enough for no one to notice her actions, although she was sure Kakashi had glimpsed it. When she finished and released her arm, Tsunade offered up a sweet smile at the two.

"Have fun."

And with a wave, they were gone out the door and out the village towards their favorite enemy.

Kakashi looked at Tsunade curiously.

"What'd you say to her?"

Tsunade merely smiled, looking down out the window as their two bodies blended into the developing crowds on the street. A few by standers paused, eyeing Sasuke shockingly at his freedom. She'd have to deal with that later.

"I just gave her some advice, that's all."

Naruto cocked his head confused but Kakashi just smiled, letting it go.

'_Guard your heart, Sakura. It's the most precious thing you have.'_


End file.
